On board nutrition for longer rides comparisons!!

I started this so as to not highjack a different thread.

For me I have found that for longer rides ( I know that means different distances for different people) 100 miles or more, with a good bit of climbing, I need more than "support type bike food", powder drink mixes and blocks.

I try to regulate my intake to 300 cals an hour based on what the pro trainer/authors suggest. But, I find I do much better if while somewhere along the line I eat some "real food".

I will offer some of my suggestions and wanted to hear from you guys what you like to eat on long distance rides.

I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on dark rye, fig bars = Costco types are really nice sized and taste great, Payday type candy bars with peanuts and nougett cream sugar filling, raw almonds, ginger candy drops, semi hard/gouie (sp)?, and protien bars along with chocolate milk. Occasionally I will stuff a subway sandwich in my bag as well. I also drop a few Dunn fizz tabs for electrolites in my bottles.

It depends on how "hard"/fast the long ride is going to be. As the average speed increases so does my reliance on easier to ingest and digest nutrition.

On rides in excess of 3 hour, I'll usually have about 150calories/hr in my bottles, take some dates, a One Square Meal bar, a Nature Valley granola bar and a couple gels as "just in case" backup. The dates and one of the bars will usually get consumed. The second bar will probably, but not always, remain as backup. There's a 50/50 chance that if any of the gels get used it will be as a gift to a buddy who hasn't brought sufficient nutrition and bonked. I'll attempt to take a 100calorie snack every 20-30 minutes.

If it's a particularly quick ride I'll end up relying more on the gels, dates and maye the OSM bar.

Brand and flavour preferences are highly individual, but, I like GU gels in Chocolate, Espresso, Mint/Choc, and One Square Meal bars in Cranberry, Apricot or Chocolate.

Classic Lemon/lime maltodextrin and electrolyte mix for my bottles at as rich a mixture as I can still find refreshing.